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General News

17 September, 2024

Talbot’s medical car a success

As local communities look for answers to improve access to medical services for their sick and unwell, the Talbot Medical Car could provide a blueprint for a solution.

By Jonathan Peck

Roger Mann and Annie Seach are two of the dozen volunteer drivers for the Talbot Medical Car.
Roger Mann and Annie Seach are two of the dozen volunteer drivers for the Talbot Medical Car.

The initiative was started by Talbot Today and Tomorrow (TTT) president and secretary Greg and Heather McNeilly back in 2007.

“TTT is a community-based group and it’s purely driven to support the community and what it needs,” Mr McNeilly said.

“When we were running the post office we could see that so many people are isolated because they don’t drive and had no other way of getting to medical appointments if they were unwell. So many day procedures require you to have someone pick you up and don’t allow you to drive home so it’s been a source of comfort to a lot of people.”

Since then, the two cars have been transporting multiple patients a week to medical appointments as locally as Clunes and Maryborough and as far as Horsham, Geelong and Hamilton.

Even though it hasn’t occurred as of yet, the cars can also be used to take residents away from the area in the event of a catastrophic fire warning.

Available for anyone in the 3371 postcode, the service runs entirely off donations and fundraisers by TTT as well as a crew of 12 volunteer drivers.

While the medical car provides access to essential services, Mr McNeilly said the model has also generated heartwarming bonds between patients and drivers.

“What we didn’t foresee is the passengers ask the drivers to sit in on their consultations because they’re expecting something that may not be joyous news and they need someone else to listen to it and help them absorb what’s going on,” he said.

“After they have left, they [often] sit together with a coffee and discuss what’s been said.

“That gives patients the ability to meet another resident in the drivers as well as allow new residents to meet longer standing residents of the area and develop a network.”

As the success of the Talbot Medical Car has become more apparent, other community groups have explored the possibility of providing similar services across the Central Goldfields.

These feelings were exacerbated when the Maryborough Red Cross was forced to reduce its patient transport fleet to one car in August due to budget issues.

While Mr McNeilly said the group has no intention to expand its service, he is optimistic to see similar models start their engines in other communities.

“We are constantly getting calls from people in Daisy Hill and Maryborough — we can’t [expand] because if we bring other people, it would mean someone from Talbot would possibly miss out and that defeats the purpose,” he said.

“We have had discussions and we are open to answering all questions from other community groups about it — for whatever reason others have been unable to get it off the ground.”

For more information or if you live in the 3371 postcode and want to book the medical car, call Greg and Heather McNeilly at 0492 466 337.

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